Evaluating a novel swallowing assessment as a predictor of mortality and recurring pneumonia in elderly patients with pneumonia.

Background: Assessment of swallowing functions in elderly people with pneumonia is important. Videofluoroscopic and videoendoscopic examinations have been known as reliable assessments of swallowing functions. However, it is often difficult to use these tools in patients with pneumonia due to their poor condition and/or inadequate hospital facilities.

A Simple Assessment of the Eating and Swallowing Functions in Elderly Patients with Pneumonia.

It is important to assess the eating and swallowing functions of elderly people because they often develop aspiration pneumonia due to dysphagia. The most reliable modalities for assessing the eating and swallowing functions are videofluoroscopic examinations and videoendoscopic evaluations; however, these diagnostic modalities often cannot be performed in elderly people. Therefore, we established the Assessment of Swallowing Ability for Pneumonia (ASAP), which is an assessment of eating and swallowing functions in elderly patients with pneumonia that can be conducted by all health care professionals, and examined the usefulness thereof.

Evaluation of the Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability in Elderly Patients with Pneumonia.

Elderly pneumonia patients have various underlying diseases and social backgrounds, and it is difficult to predict their mortality using the current severity assessment tools. However, aspiration is a risk factor for mortality in pneumonia patients. In the evaluation of aspiration, endoscopic and video fluoroscopic methods are reliable but cannot be performed in all pneumonia patients.